In many large US military installations around the world, you’ll find fully functioning chow halls, manned by hair-netted cooks dishing out mass quantities of hot, salty food. When those bases get shut down, however, it’s back to the bags: Meals Ready to Eat, or MRE’s. On my recent embed with the last US Marines in Afghanistan, as they shut down … Read More
Food on the Frontline: Syria and Iraq
Syrian food is fantastic, and as diverse as its neighbors in the Middle East: creamy hummus, fried kibbeh balls stuffed with spiced meat, rice dishes baked in phyllo dough, meatballs glazed in cherry sauce, flatbreads, baklavas, honeyed sweets, tea. Sadly, none of that was available on the frontline, where the Syrian Kurds faced off with ISIS. As bullets whizzed by just … Read More
Iraq, the Land of Plenty (of Rice)
Road-tripping through Northern Iraq, I’ve stumbled on some interesting regional specialties amid the kebabs and hummus. In Serchinar Restaurant in Zahko (not far from the Syrian border), a platter of grilled meat was served with endless side dishes, including this bright green concoction I’d never seen before: Turns out it was banana slices served in a sweet banana & sugar … Read More
Grazing Along the Turkey-Syria Border
The border between Turkey and Syria is 500 miles long, dotted by hundreds of little villages and anchored by small, fully-functioning cities (complete with airports). There’s plenty of street food: kebab stands, men slinging long footprints of cheese or meat-strewn pide (flatbreads), little storefronts and carts where you can grab a cone of chewy, dense Turkish ice cream for under fifty cents. … Read More
In the Land of Mezze, Matoug is King
Gaza is full of Middle Eastern cafes slinging hummus, tabouleh, and grilled meats. In fact, I have yet to see a restaurant here that is NOT full of mezze and kebabs. No Tequila Sushi Boom Boom in these parts. With so many restaurants serving so many of the same things, it comes down to the freshness of ingredients, the breadth … Read More